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"Kindness returns with their third full length album titled “Something Like A War”. The album is a culmination of years spent collaborating with the likes of Robyn, Jazmine Sullivan, Seinabo Sey and Cosima among many others. Produced entirely by Bainbridge, the record is a collection of works representing a period of reflection and transformation over the course of 4 years following their second record “Otherness.” Now based in London, the album was recorded in several locations, while Kindness was primarily based in New York during the writing and recording of the album. "

Kindness, who uses they/them pronouns, has remained busy since Otherness, working across several projects: they co-produced five tracks on Solange’s album A Seat at the Table, and contributed production, writing, and vocals to Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound and Negro Swan albums in addition to production on Robyn's latest album Honey. A sought-after DJ, radio host, writer, collaborator, and lecturer on everything from musical craft and heritage to queerness and history, they’ve spent the last several years performing as a DJ at venues across the world, from Palais de Tokyo to the Guggenheim Museum, hosted their own radio show on Red Bull Radio in 2016 and 2017, lectured at the Boiler Room in New Delhi and moderated Robyn’s Red Bull Music Academy lecture at MOMA in New York. They were recently featured in Solange’s Calvin Klein advertisement, shot by Willy Vanderperre, alongside friends Dev Hynes, Kelela and Caroline Polachek.


STAFF COMMENTS

Patrick says: Adam Bainbridge continues to hone their sensitive, sensual and subtle blend of synth, soul, house and disco-not-disco on this ace third LP, which features collaborations with the likes of Sampha and Robyn. Post modern pop with plenty of heart.

TRACK LISTING

1. Sibambaneni
2. Raise Up
3. Lost Without (ft. Seinabo Sey)
4. Softness As A Weapon
5. Hard To Believe (Feat Jazmine Sullivan & Sampha)
6. Who You Give Your Heart To (feat Alexandria)
7. Samthing’s Interlude
8. Dreams Fall
9. The Warning (feat Robyn)
10. Cry Everything
11. No New Lies (feat Cosmia)
12. Something Like A War (feat. Bahamadia)
13. Call It Down (feat, Cosima & Nadia Nair)

Kindness

Otherness

    Kindness' debut LP "World, You Need A Change Of Mind" showed Adam Bainbridge to be a young man with a long list of impeccable influences, from soft rock to R&B, from New York to Ibiza. The work of an offbeat bedroom auteur and the producer Phillipe Zdar, that LP charmed us a Piccadilly with its understated beauty and undeniable funk. Sophomore LP "Otherness" sees Bainbridge pursuing his musical vision in collaborative form, expanding his circle to a global ensemble of like-minded musicians all working under his direction. It's telling then that on the album’s opening track, "World Restart", Bainbridge’s vocals remain in the backing chorus, while Kelela and Ade sing the lead parts. The song rides the sort of lithe and loose horns you might hear on a Fela Kuti record, but they're tethered to a fat boogie bassline and Bainbridge's own rich percussive clatter, itself a mainstay through the record. Musically, Bainbridge takes his evident love of 80s soul one step further on this release, moving effortlessly from the frictionless R&B of Alexander O’Neal to the intimate balladeering of Prince, all the while keeping our heads nodding and feet shuffling to the rhythmic pulse of club soul and boogie. The album’s first single, "This Is Not About Us", allows a circular, sticky piano figure played by Bainbridge to slowly melt into this gorgeous choral haze, while "Why Don't You Love Me" finds Bainbridge, Devonté Hynes & Tawiah echoing one of MJ's most mournful torch songs. Elsewhere, hints of loose disco, proto house and shimmering pop are reinvented in true Kindness style as candlelit intimacy is balanced with dancefloor thrust. This time round Bainbridge takes full control of production duties (with the exception of the Hynes collaboration "Why Don't You Love Me?"), resulting in a cohesive sound punctuated by some wonderfully unorthodox touches. "Otherness" is Kindness doing a second album properly, consolidating the successes of the debut while moving forward and most importantly, remembering the tunes.

    Kindness

    World, You Need A Change Of Mind

      The wonderful thing about the music Adam Bainbridge makes as Kindness is how little it tells you about its origins. It bears the fingerprints of no specific scene, no particular country, no certain era. Taking in the leftfield New York disco-dub testaments of Walter Gibbons and Larry Levan, the cosmopolitan art-house funk rhythms of Grace Jones and the Tom Tom Club and the frictionless R&B of Alexander O’Neal are all swirled around with the blurry Polaroid pop of Ariel Pink and Phoenix.

      The album opens with massive single track "SEOD", which feeds an 80s pop vibe through deeper-than-deep electronic house - emotive, melancholic, cosmic, anthemic. "Swingin' Party" keeps the groove going, letting Bainbridge's vocals soar over a simple 4/4 groove. Next we head off at a tangent for a cover of the Eastenders theme "Anyone Can Fall In Love" in slo-mo synthwave boogie style. "Gee Wiz" mixes jazz-funk guitar licks with submerged ambience, while soon-to-come single "Gee Up" nails the funky electro-pop sound of Phoenix right on the head. "House" delivers beatdown house rhythms and the kind of chorus Scritti Politti would've been proud of back in the day. Go-go and Jam & Lewis style electro-boogie infuse the sampladelic "That's Alright", which will take you back to 1985. "Cyan" still sounds more Arthur Russell than Arthur Russell, in a beautiful Balearic-disco style. But hey, why not take a side-turn into finger-snapping jazz, while listing some musical heroes... "Bombastic" does just that. To close "Doigsong" slaps the bass and leads us to the dancefloor with killer boogie-pop sounds.

      "A must for fans of Phoenix and DFA Records" - Sian Rowe in Q.


      STAFF COMMENTS

      Philippa says: Kindness throws his net in a wide arc when it comes to inspirations for his debut album: Phoenix style soft-pop, 80s electro-boogie, Arthur Russell-tinted Balearic, beatdown house, synth-pop... It's all here on this stunning long player.


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